# 1996 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1996 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Secretary of State for Wales – William Hague
* Archbishop of Wales – Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
** John Gwilym Jones (outgoing)
** Dafydd Rowlands (incoming)

## Events

* 1 January - Michael German is awarded the OBE for his public and political service.
* 15 February - The Sea Empress, an oil tanker, runs aground off Milford Haven, causing devastation to the west Wales coastline.
* 1 April - The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 comes into force, creating 22 unitary authorities.
* 3 April - The first EuroHowl is held in Aberystwyth, Wales.
* 29 June - The Prince's Trust concert in Hyde Park, London is attended by 150,000 people.
* 18 July - Howard Hughes is sentenced to life imprisonment at Chester Crown Court for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Sophie Hook at Llandudno 12 months previously. The trial judge recommends that Hughes, 31, should never be released.
* 28 August - The Prince and Princess of Wales, are formally divorced at the High Court of Justice in London, the first time in history that a Prince of Wales has successfully gone through a divorce. By negotiation, Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales is restyled, Diana, Princess of Wales.
* November - The Owain Glyndŵr Society is founded.
* date unknown
** The Church in Wales ordains its first women priests.
** South Wales Constabulary changes its name to South Wales Police.

## Arts and literature

* Sir Anthony Hopkins opens the Cliff Tucker Theatre at the University of Wales, Lampeter.
* Alice Thomas Ellis is dismissed as a columnist on the Catholic Herald newspaper because of her attack on the reputation of the late Archbishop Derek Worlock.
* Steve Balsamo stars in a West End revival of Jesus Christ Superstar.

### Awards

* Glyndŵr Award - Jan Morris
* National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Ffairfach, near Llandeilo)
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - R. O. Williams
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - David John Pritchard
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld
* Wales Book of the Year:
** English language: Nigel Jenkins, Gwalia in Khasia
** Welsh language:
* Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen - Eirug Wyn, Smoc Gron Bach

### New books

* Ron Berry - This Bygone
* Ruth Bidgood - The Fluent Moment
* Gillian Clarke - The Whispering Room
* Keith Kissack - The Lordship, Parish and Borough of Monmouth
* Howard Marks - Mr Nice
* Kenneth Morris - The Dragon Path
* Tim Rishton - Liturgisk orgelspill

## Film

* Prince Valiant filmed at Gwrych Castle.

### Welsh-language films
## Music

* John Cale - Walking on Locusts
* Peter Maxwell Davies - The Doctor of Myddfai (opera)
* Gillian Elisa - Rhywbeth yn y Glas.
* Karl Jenkins - Diamond Music
* Donna Lewis - Now in a Minute
* Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic.

## Broadcasting

* The Broadcasting Act 1996 changes the funding formula for S4C.

### Welsh-language television

* Heno (Welsh-language news programme, broadcast until 2001 and returned in 2012).

### English-language television

* Barry Welsh is Coming
* In the Blood, presented by Steve Jones

## Sport

* BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Ryan Giggs
* Football
** The Welsh Football Trust is founded.
** Llansantffraid F.C. win the Welsh Cup and are offered sponsorship by Total Network Solutions.
* Snooker
** Mark Williams wins the Welsh Open tournament in Cardiff.

## Births

* 25 February - Laura Halford, rhythmic gymnast
* 25 April - Kizzy Crawford, Bajan-Welsh folk-pop crossover singer-songwriter
* 17 May - Seb Davies, rugby player
* 25 July - Jarrod Evans, rugby player
* 1 August - Gemma Evans, footballer
* 14 September - Shaun Evans, rugby player
* 2 October - Keston Davies, footballer
* 28 November - Owen Evans, footballer

## Deaths

* 16 January - Dai Ward, footballer, 61
* 7 March - Aled Eames, historian, 74
* 11 March - Sir Granville Beynon, physicist, 81
* 14 March - Dewi Bebb, Wales rugby union player, 57
* 16 March - Harry Peacock, Wales rugby union player, 87
* 14 April - Mervyn Levy, artist and critic, 81
* 7 May - Taffy Williams, soldier, 62
* 27 July - Billy Rees, footballer, 72
* 29 August - Dillwyn Thomas, cricketer, 91
* 5 September - Clem Thomas, rugby player, 67
* 24 September - I. E. S. Edwards, Egyptologist, 87
* 26 October - Huw Owen, theologian and academic, 69
* 10 November - Dafydd Orwig, politician and academic, 68
* 9 December
** Diana Morgan, playwright and screenwriter, 86
** Ivor Roberts-Jones, sculptor, 83
* 29 December - Pennar Davies, poet and theologian, 85
* date unknown
** Thomas Nathaniel Davies, artist and teacher
** Thomas David Frank Evans, WWII prisoner-of-war
** Harry Hanford, footballer, 88
** Thyrza Anne Leyshon, painter, 103